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UCLA going bowling win or lose on Friday

UCLA could be one of the rare teams to advance to a bowl game with a sub-.500 record, the NCAA decided today.

College football’s governing body approved UCLA petition for a bowl waiver if the Bruins lose on Friday to Oregon in the Pac-12 Conference Championship, a loss that would drop the team’s record to 6-7.

“As a program, we appreciate the NCAA approving our petition for a bowl waiver,” UCLA Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero said in a release. “We will be able to give our 18 seniors one more chance to represent their university and end their collegiate careers on a high note, regardless of the outcome of this Friday’s Pac-12 Championship Game. We’d like to thank the NCAA for considering the unique situation in which we find ourselves this year and rewarding us with this opportunity.”

Bowl pairings will be announced on Sunday, with seven Pac-12 teams advancing to the postseason. Current projections have UCLA going to either the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl or the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.

I think that’s perfect. I do want a big name coach, to shake our entire culture at UCLA…but that being said, I’m curious to see how Mike Johnson does, because I think he has great potential as a head coach some day.

UCLABZ

Doesn’t it look kinda bad to appeal before the team even loses? Ok, I guess they probably had to appeal now, because it would have been too late to appeal after Friday’s game…. but still, they should have waited until after the game (assuming they lose) to announce the appeal had been approved. The way they did this it just looks bad. Dan G. is telling the team he assumes they are going to lose to Oregon.

cmcbruin

Mike Leach hired at WSU. That was fast. Scratch him off our list.

Anonymous

DG already has the white flag wavering high.
Since WSU already hired Leach, DG better make a splash with his hire. If he brings in some retreads or 2nd tier assistant, the Alumni will be all over him. A warning to you DG, if this happens, you will see three-fourth of the Rose Bowl empty. You will see die-hards fans turn their backs from UCLA and will never come back. The ball is in your hands. You promised “a coach all bruins will be proud of”. Let’s make it happen.

battanpocket

Man this program gets more embarrassing by the hour. We don’t deserve to go to a bowl, except maybe the Tidy Bowl. To beat one team with a season ending winning record ( Cal ) and expect to have earned anything but the scorn of their fans is pathetic.

samo hopar

Give the new coach some extra time with the players…nothing wrong with that.

rejn

I guess there’s something to be said about having a good relationship with the higher ups at the NCAA….

Lifelong Bruin Fan

Very disappointed that Leach appears to be off the board!

I guess it’s Petersen or bust?

Trojan Conquest

I’m saying this as a rare alum who actually likes the other school. UCLA should just end this season as fast as possible and move forward with a new coach. Or better yet, beat Oregon and really create a mess. It’s crazy that Neuheisel is coaching the championship game. I’d love for the AD to have egg on his face with UCLA winning. Another thought, just think how much worse it would have been for the Pac 12 if they were playing this game at a neutral site, say Glendale Arizona at the Cardinal’s stadium. They’d be lucky to get 10,000 people.

Petersen or bust? That’s awefully dramatic. It’s been two days since RN was let go, and we’re already panicing.

Mark

Prediction:
ucla will be invited to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl because the Pac-12 will not have enough eligible teams to fill the bowl slots allotted to the conference by contract.

ucla will be on the hook for thousands of tickets that they won’t be able to sell and will have to buy them themselves.

During the game, the country will be continuously reminded that ucla has a losing record, is there by an NCAA exemption, just got blown out by Oregon and 50-0 against SC, and had fired their coach a month prior and is still looking for a replacement after being turned down by ….

Be careful what you wish for.

scidiot

Glad to hear it. Gives me one more game to watch where I will actually care what happens. Ticket guarentee will likely mean ucla takes a loss after expenses on the trip though.

Semi-Pro

Personally, I’m OK with not getting Mike Leach. I’ve never been a big fan of his anyway. While of course Petersen should be our top candidate, there are several coaches other than Petersen that I would be happy with. Let’s not jump overboard.

Brock

who are you thinking semipro?

kiriba8

Leach was never a serious contender for the UCLA job (and he knew that). The deal with Wazoo & Leach is nothing more than a desperate ex-coach and a desperate football program coming together.

No doubt Leach will improve the Cougs offense and probably elevate that program overall, but his hire is certainly no blow to the other three Pac-12 teams looking for a high quality coaching staff now that the money is flowing because of the recent conference TV deal.

scidiot

kiriba8,
.
Don’t get all rational. This is a blog.

BE REAL

Congratulations are in order.

ucla was the winner of the Pac-12 South and should be rewarded with a bowl game.

There are something like 30 bowl games, so that means only 1/2 of the nations’ primary football colleges qualified, so that is an achievement.

And I have always enjoyed how the winners of these 30 bowl games act as if they had won the national championship.

So perhaps it does not mean much to fans, but it apparently means a great deal to the players who have been doing all of the sacrificing since summer.

lawyer john

Anonymous

Art Briles could be a good candidate. He turned Houston around and left a pretty good team to Sumlin. He has Baylor going in the right direction now so he knows how to turn around bad programs.

http://www.yahoo.com BruinRob

Anyone opposed to UCLA petitioning for a Bowl is either not a bruin fan or never attends home games, let alone road games. This Bowl game is to reward the players especially the seniors,for their hard work, it’s not to reward the selfish unfaithful fans.

Semi-Pro

Coaches not named Chris Petersen I would be happy with:

Kevin Sumlin
Tom Cable
Vic Fangio
Mike Bellotti

Anonymous

Semi-Pro

I’m with you on Bellotti (he would be my next choice after Pete, but he’s 60 now and may not to jump into the fire again) and then Sumlin if Bellotti passes on the job.

Trojan Conquest

Bellotti is a leading candidate for ASU. Even though he’s around 60, he’s a high energy guy. He also produces great assistant coaches. He’s a 5 year plan. Get the program in place, and then leave it to a top assistant who is groomed to take over. ASU has some advantages over UCLA. UofA was smart to fire their coach early so they wouldn’t have to compete for the same candidates.

ucla-of-the-rockies

DG is showing more of his true pansy-ass colors as the days unfold and he gets more of the sports media “limelight” … he’s acting more like it’s his 15 mins. of fame. My HIGH SCHOOL athletic director showed more maturity:

1). NEVER reveal your cards on something that is nobody else’s biz and, moreover, makes your school look bad. (OK, fine, you won the appeal … don’t get all giddy about it like you just won a bowl game BEFORE even lining up against Oregon. NEVER, EVER — AND I MEAN, EVER! — admit defeat beforehand).
2). NEVER reverse generationally-rich traditions like the home/home uniform agreement. You want new Pro-Combat/Astro-fit/Cock-tight unis? Them KEEP THEM POWDER KEG FUCKING BLUE, not wave-the-surrender-flag white.
3). Don’t announce BEFOREHAND that CRN will not coach beyong the game in Eugene. What if we get all jacked up on Mt. Dew and go Spider Monkey on Oregon and advance to The Rose Bowl? Don’t you then feel CRN would deserve to lead us into THE VERY BOWL HE WAS MVP of as a player after coming to UCLA as a walk-on … this idiot has no clue about Bruin tradition. CRN, horrid coach be-damned, has been more than respectful through this whole ordeal. He deserves the same. Who cares if MJ is interim? No one, I repeat NO ONE will want him coaching UCLA if we beat Oregon. Hell, MJ is the next one fired 5 mins. after Tressey once the new head coach is hired.
4). Put on a pair of heeled boots, you midget. Every time you appear on TV you look more bald, more dry, more like you are just going through the motions out there. Why do you look like you are ready to yawn all the time?
5). Please stay home and just send Troy Aikman to Boise. You will lose this deal for us with Petersen if you either open your mouth, or, simply fill the room with all of your boring-ass nothing-ness.
6). Just spill it, bitch … if it took WSU $2mill a year to get Leach less than 24 hours after firing Wulff, then what the fuck are you doing? There are no time for siestas in this job. Line it all up, get the fuck out of the way and … spill it, bitch! Yes, Petersen will make FIVE TIMES more than yer $680k per year. Deal with it, you piece of shit!

Yes, that’s how I really feel about THE HIGHEST PAID AD in the Pac-12. He is failing UCLA on epic scales right now when what we most need is solid leadership in trying times.

Does anyone else see that our problems are truly larger than our coach?

Hire Petersen.
Fire DG.
Maybe the ideas swirling on this site and others about CRN then becoming AD are not so far-fetched after all.

The Big Woof!

With RichRoddy at Arizona and Leech (sp. wrong on purpose) joining Lame at SC, the Pac 12 can now boast of having three of the worst charactered coaches in the country. I sincerely feel that good character as well as coaching ability must be a trait of our new hire. Sumlin, Briles, Caragher, and some others mentioned seem to fit the profile.

With all the chatter about CRN’s firing and our poor performance I must have missed the thousands who agree with me that sc showed a total lack of class (are we surprised?) by leaving Barkley and most of their first stringers in until the very end and continued to pour it on in their play calling. IMHO, they had the game well enough in hand that they should have started clearing the bench by the end of the third quarter and given the rest of their players a chance to contribute to their earned victory. With all the talk about it being Barkley’s last game, I was interested in seeing who their 2nd string qb was and how he would do. By the time he came in at the very end the guys on TV never even mentioned who he was, and he really didn’t do anything. Maybe Lawyer John can help me out here, and also give his take on the amount of class shown by his fine coach and not smug players.

ucla-of-the-rockies

Now we got our big-boy panties on:
Rick Reilly reports UCLA offering $20mill over 5 years to get Petersen …

Does anyone here think RN could convince Petersen to come to UCLA? RN might not be the best coach, but dude, the guy can sure recruit.

W.E.B. Dupree

ucla-of-the-rockies, no more coffee for you this evening. First you post a long rant about your AD, then you’re worked up about Petersen, and now you’re re-capping Wolf’s blog. “Ease down! You’re just grinding metal!”

Brother W.E.B. I’m with you on this one UCLA of the Rockies must ODd on some 5hour energy. Nevertheless, it’s refreshing to see some familiar posters on here welcome my Trojan brothers!

Reformed Droog

While we’re at it…

Reading between the lines, it would seem that the decision to fire Neuheisel came from above Dan’s head. True or not, it would explain a lot of inconsistencies between his actions and what he said just two days prior. I got the impression that Dan truly wanted to give Rick the chance to coach out the season.

Unfortunately, we’ll probably never really know, so, it’s probably better to hold off on trashing Dan without any real, you know, facts and shit.

Surrender Monkey

I’m not going to even watch this game. My co-workers have made this week unbearable in the office. They make fun of me and my alma mater. Someone even hid my stuffed bruin bear. Not nice!!:(

Anonymous

Sumlin is not the answer. Houston is nothing without Keenum, and it took him 6 years to get where he’s at. Please aim higher.

ucla-of-the-rockies

W.E.B./Rob: After two days of massive budget cuts, it’s 5-hour & Jack, baby. I just can’t believe what DG is getting away with these days. Is that how we want our university represented? What a fool every time he comes to the podium. I hope CRN feels a bit relieved after what he was working under every day.

Lifelong Bruin Fan

Glowbruins: I didn’t mean to be dramatic, but things move fast (as we are already witnessing), so I hope we have a strong plan B (and C, D,…) in case we can’t land Petersen.

I too am not sold on Sumlin and would like us to aim higher–much higher!

I’d be happy with Bellotti, a proven winner.

One thing I haven’t seen on these discussion boards is the possibility of trying to lure another currently employed big name coach since we are apparently willing to offer a salary ($4M annually) that would exceed all but those of four other coaches in the entire nation.

@surrender monkey, tell me where you work so I can go kicked those mother effers’ asses. Why would you let those a$$holse intimidate you like that!!??

Marc

Agree on Sumlin. Let’s see how he does next year with Keenum.

How about the d-coordinator from Alabama. I know people aren’t high on coordinators, but national championship and SEC defense. I am not a big SEC fan (how do they get away with playing directional schools in November?), but you have to admit SEC defenses are freaking solid.

I can see him coming in as head coach/defensive coordinator and making a solid hire for offensive coordinator/associate head coach.

Could you imagine him going into a living room in south central and telling a monster of a kid, come to UCLA I’ll teach you defense that wins national championships.

Seriously, I hope UCLA at least contacts Kirby Smart and gives him an interview. Let’s get this done!

Semi-Pro

Of course Sumlin had NOTHING to do with Keenum’s development and success… For those of you who bash Sumlin by saying “He’s only got a good record because of Case Keenum”, did you ever consider that maybe Sumlin is a major reason WHY Keenum is so good???

Marc

I don’t think so. A quarterback is that good or he isn’t. Sure, it’s not the kid alone, but he is an amazing talent. Think Luck or Barkley(jerk) wouldn’t be that good elsewhere. They were studs in high school.

Look how well he did last year after Keenum went down. I’m not 100% sold on the guy. That’s all.

FIGHTONtoVICTORY

Im pretty sure UCLA is so down in the ditch that hiring a top-tier coach is not going to help. I hope petersen does get hired, it would give you guys some optimism for the depressing state that is the UCLA football program. 50-0! Aaaauuuuu-woooooooo

http://www.yahoo.com BruinRob

Cheat On to victory… UCLA is playing for the pac-12 title and “UCLA sucks” according to you, imagine our future, like next year with about 18 players returning and having possibly Peterson as our coach?? But of course even if we were playing for the national title – to the delusional trOJies, UCLA would still suck. Hilarious.

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